I have a little rule. If I keep thinking about a movie days after I’ve seen it, that means it is good. . .even if I don’t think it is good, you know?
This 2 1/2 hour film lecture from Slavoj Zizek (which never really lives up to the premise of its title) is very difficult to really get your hands around. I don’t think it is because Zizek is such a towering intellect that his concepts are not for us laymen — it is because there isn’t really one specific point. I took a quick poll outside the theater when the movie was done: “what was this guy’s thesis?” No one could give me an answer. Except one guy who said, “Well, you really need to read his books.”
This doesn’t diminish the film — basically a collection of movie clips (“Vertigo,” The Birds, Tarkovsky’s Stalker and “Solaris,” Piano Teacher, Duck Soup, Revenge of the Sith, “Fight Club” and a whole catalogue of David Lynch) with Zizek’s frantic, deep Slovenian voice over providing psychoanalytic commentary. Sometimes the commentary is obvious (The birds in “The Birds” are a symbol!) and sometimes they are obnoxious (the greatest fear any man has is that his father will not die.)
Zizek is a fascinating man, mostly because he is able to do this full time. Read my comments on his live appearance for more on that.
Best thing in this doc, though, is the clever use of recreating sets. Zizek pontificates from the bathroom in “The Conversation,” the stage from “Mullholland Drive,” the basement in “Psycho,” the hotel room in “Veritgo,” Regan MacNeil’s bedroom from “The Exorcist,” etc. It is a neat trick and even if you aren’t paying attention to the yabbering you’ll stay tuned just to see the next set.
